“It’s the hap-happiest season of all” is a lyric from the infamous song, “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year.’” While the holiday season comes with so much joy from fellowship with friends and family, good food, religious celebrations, and gift giving; there seems to be a lot of cons as well. This raises the question: do the bad things outweigh the good things?

Family Gatherings

Seeing family whether they live close or travel back for the holidays is always nice, you socialize with close ones you might have missed a lot. But, there are three main reasons for people dreading family gatherings during the holidays.

1. Opposing Views: Everyone is allowed to have different opinions about certain issues and that’s okay. Personally, I’ve seen on social media that much of our generation has family members that are pretty political and say controversial things. This raises a lot of awkwardness when members are pressuring you about your views on something and could very well create arguments during a time that’s supposed to be joyful. 
2. Nosy Questions: It’s no secret that extended family members love to ask juicy questions. I think we have all heard the question, “Is there a special someone in your life?” Those kinds of questions create an awkward tension and the lack of boundaries can become unpleasant. 
3. One-sided Conversations: We all have at least one member in our extended family that could talk for hours and hours. They seem to only care to talk about themselves and are too self-absorbed and caught up in themselves that they go on tangents about the most random things. This creates boredom and can make the family gathering dreadful. 

Financial Pressure/Comparison

During the whole holiday season, the majority of families celebrate with some type of gift giving. This is a good thing (both giving and receiving gifts), but it can create a lot of pressure. Financially, it’s one of the hardest times of the year. In 2022, 35% of Americans took on financial debt during the holiday season and this year, over half of Americans said they’re planning to take on more debt to fund their expenses.

While some families are fortunate enough to be able to afford Christmas gifts and still be comfortable with money after, there is a percentage that struggles substantially. People during the holiday season often compare themselves to other people with how well they are doing financially and the kinds of gifts they get/receive that can take an emotional toll on them and cause them to envy others.

Loneliness vs. Packed Social Calendars

Seeing families/friends during the holiday get together and have such a fun time can be sad for someone who maybe doesn’t get that kind of love. This can make the holidays unbearable as it’s a constant reminder of your situation. On the contrary, having a packed social calendar and nonstop having activities can wear a person down and make them dread the season. It really just feels like you can’t win during this season. 

While the holiday season comes with a lot of mental stress and can be hard at times, it’s very rewarding as it should be a time of joyfulness. It is all about your mindset. You have to look at the positives of things and find happiness in the little things during the holiday season. 

So that still leaves the question, does the holiday season have more good than bad? That is for you to decide.